This phrase is taken from a favorite philosopher of mine, Alfred Korzybski. As the URL of the blog implies, I am a Persophile and much of what I write will likely pertain to Iran and the Persian people. My interests are diverse however, and I will also be writing about anything and everything else that inspires me. The photo is of Azadi Tower in Tehran, Iran, built in 1971. Azadi means 'freedom' or 'liberty' in Persian (Farsi)

Saturday, March 24, 2018

IRGC and Other Iranian Cyber Activities

Earlier this week the US government publicly went after the IRGC. President Trump's Nowruz statement on Monday was mainly about the evils of the IRGC rather than the holiday itself. On Friday Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein announced indictments for a number of Iranians with the IRGC for hacking.

The hacks and bots seem connected, and are clearly linked to the regime in some manner, but the details are unclear. The distinction between the more skilled hackers and the Twitter bots makes me curious about the Iranian cyber programs, how they are set up, who runs them, and if there are multiple organizations or factions running them. I would be surprised if the recently indicted hackers are directly responsible for the older bot networks, but I'd also not rule it out.